1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for providing voice prompted task selection and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing voice prompted task selection for a user in a vehicle, where the user operates an input device, such as a scroll wheel, and a voice response identifies each selectable task from a list of tasks as the scroll wheel is rotated, and where the speed of the voice response increases and decreases depending on how fast the scroll wheel is rotated.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Modern vehicles often include many and various systems that provide vehicle occupant conveniences, such as cellular telephone, internet access, digital music files, turn-by-turn navigation, Wi-Fi, etc. These systems can sometimes be accessed by a single human-machine interface (HMI) to allow the user to more easily select and control the various systems.
Studies have shown that 70-80% of all vehicle trips are driver only. Thus, the driver is the single most important occupant of a vehicle from an HMI stand-point. A vehicle HMI typically needs to be different than other HMIs because the vehicle driver cannot be significantly distracted at normal driving speeds, particularly, a driver cannot take his/her eyes off the road and hands of the steering wheel except for short periods of time. Typically, the distraction threshold for vehicle based systems is that the system cannot be any more distracting to the driver than the vehicle radio. This precludes using HMI devices that employ screen-based user-interfaces. Thus, HMIs that may be used when the vehicle is stationary, such as a screen-based internet browser, are nearly irrelevant for drivers during operation of the vehicle.
Speech recognition systems have been employed in vehicles to address the driver distraction issue, where the system audibly prompts the driver and the driver responds to questions to identify tasks the driver wants performed. A useful HMI for drivers is one that enables the driver to effectively access and obtain information at normal driving speeds. Voice/speech HMIs have been popular because they allow drivers to access information and control functionality without the distraction of screen-based interfaces. Speech recognition itself works well if the potential responses can be limited to a few possible choices, but dictation-type recognition or many choices is very unreliable, especially if there is limited context, such as entering short phrases into a search box. However, a noisy cabin environment and background, especially at high vehicle speeds, being slower to navigate than screen-based user interfaces, not being able to convey as much information, etc. may prevent the efficient use of a speech recognition systems because the user may have to repeat various commands, such as a telephone number.
One HMI associated with speech recognition systems that has been used in the industry is a scroll wheel that allows the vehicle operator to scroll through a menu of tasks that are available on the vehicle, such as call, dial, turn-by-turn, navigation search, virtual advisor, etc, associated with various systems, such as cellular telephone, navigation systems, internet, etc. A voice prompt identifies each task as the user scrolls through the list for tasks using the scroll wheel. The user can select the task at a particular prompt by either pushing the scroll wheel or pushing a separate button.
If a user is familiar with a particular task selection system and knows that he wants to select a task towards the end of the task list, then he can rotate the scroll wheel faster to skip many of the tasks before he gets to the one he wants to choose. In the current systems, as the scroll wheel is rotated faster, the voice prompts get cut off because the user has scrolled to the next selection before the voice prompt is able to identify the current selection.
Once a user selects an upper level selection, then that selection may have other selections that need to be chosen, which could be significant. For example, if one of the selections is MP3 player, then once that selection is made, the user may be required to select a song from the MP3 player song list, which may be one of many songs.
There are many different types of voice-driving services on the market. For example, dialing 411 gives the user an automated system that collects information and then passes this information to a live operator. Dialing 777-Film is completely automated, and sends the user through a many-tiered menu navigation system controlled by keypad DTMF signals and voice recognition. These services require a voice-enabled connection to a network server, such as a VoIP or circuit switched connection. Some of these systems use VoiceXML, SALT and other industry standards to describe the menu design. However, apart from speech recognition, DTMF is the only method for sending data in these systems.